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ICAO approves NCAT Zaria as Regional Centre of Excellence – Rector
Graduation
By Mohammed Lawal
Zaria (Kaduna State), Jan. 26, 2019 (NNN) The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has approved for the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, (NCAT) Zaria to become a Regional Centre of Excellent, an official has disclosed.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NNN) reports that the Rector of the College, Capt. Abdussalami Mohammed, made this known at a combined graduation ceremony held at the College in Zaria, Kaduna State.
He said the success story was as a result of hard work, commitment and dedication by the college management as well as supporting staff.
”Following this huge success, NCAT will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Civil Aviation of Sierraleon.”
The Rector charged the graduating journalists to be good ambassadors of the college and to make use of the knowledge they have acquired during the training period.
While describing the graduation as the largest he ever witnessed at NCAT since his days of students, Mohammed urged them to make judicious use of the knowledge acquired.
Mohammed congratulated the participants for successful training particularly those from neigbouring countries like Cameroon and Gambia.
NNN reports that the combined graduation ceremony included Standard Air Traffic Control, Aviation English for fire fighters, Maintenance and Repairs of Diesel Engine Generator and League of Aviation and Airport Correspondents. (NNN)
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Edited by Fela Fashoro/Maharazu Ahmed
The Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, has urged the the Prince of Wales and heir apparent to the British Monarch, Prince Charles to assist in facilitating the return of Benin artefacts to the country. The monarch made the call, on Tuesday in Abuja, when Prince Charles received some traditional rulers during a visit to Nigeria, the final leg of an eight-day tour to three West African countries. The prince and his wife, Princess Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who are visiting together, were in The Gambia and Ghana earlier. The artefacts were said to have been carried away from the Royal Court of Benin in 1897. “Nigerians in general and Benin people in particular will be most delighted to have Your Royal Highness throw his weight behind our efforts to have some of our ancient artefacts that were taken in 1897 from the royal Court of Benin returned to establish Oba Palace Museum for the promotion of tourism in Benin city.” The monarch further commended the relations between the United Kingdom and Nigeria and appreciated the Queen of England, Elizabeth II for sending representatives during his coronation as the 40th Oba of Benin. He also appreciated the support of the UK in Nigeria’s fight against human trafficking, adding that fight against human trafficking is still a work in progress. As part of his scheduled, Prince Charles, who is seeking greater role for traditional rulers in nation building, held discussions on issues bordering on insecurity, climate change demographic explosion amongst others. Prince Charles and Princess Camilla would visit Lagos on Wednesday, where they will engage the business community on a wide range of businesses, trade and investment. (NNN)
Sniff dogs could be trained to detect malaria in people infected with the disease even if they are not showing symptoms, according to a new study by Durham University. “While our findings are at an early stage, in principle we have shown that dogs could be trained to detect malaria infected people by their odour with a credible degree of accuracy,” Steven Lindsay, lead researcher from Durham University, said in a press release. Researchers from the Medical Research Council Unit of The Gambia and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine used nylon socks to collect foot odour samples from apparently healthy children aged five to 14 in the Upper River Region of The Gambia in West Africa. A total of 175 sock samples were tested, including those of 30 malaria-positive children identified by the study using finger-prick tests and 145 from uninfected children. The sock samples were then transported to Britain where dogs were trained to distinguish between the scent of children infected with malaria parasites and those who were uninfected. According to the researchers, the dogs were able to correctly identify 70 per cent of the malaria-infected samples. They were also able to correctly identify 90 per cent of the samples without malaria parasites. The study, presented Monday at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Annual Meeting in the U.S. city of New Orleans, could potentially lead to the first rapid and non-invasive test for malaria. The researchers believe that artificial odor sensors might be developed in the future to detect malaria parasites, but until then trained dogs could be a useful alternative at ports of entry. According to the World Health Organisation’s latest World Malaria Report, there were an estimated 216 million cases of malaria in 2016, an increase of five million cases over the previous year. Deaths reached 445,000, a similar number to the previous year. (Xinhua/NNN)
The Vice-President of The Gambia, Mrs Fatoumata Tambajang, has said that The Gambia would ‘collapse’ if Nigerian professionals in the country withdraw their services or leave the country.
Tambajang made the remark at a dinner organised for the Nigerian delegation to the 62nd Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the Nigeria House, New York, on Thursday night.
The vice-president, who was represented by Dr Mamadou Tangara, the Ambassador/Permanent Representative of The Gambia to the UN, commended Nigeria for its numerous support to her country.
She said: Gambia is very grateful to Nigeria for its support. If Nigeria withdraws its support, Gambia will collapse.
“In particular, if the Nigerian professionals in the judiciary withdraw, Gambia’s judiciary will collapse”.
Nigeria led regional efforts to force out former President Yahya Jammeh in 2017 after he reneged on his earlier pledge to handover to President Adama Barrow.
At about 30,000 strong, Nigeria also has by far the largest population of foreign nationals living in The Gambia.
Similarly, six of Gambia’s 12 banks are owned by Nigerians.
Nigerian Emmanuel Ayoola was the Chief Justice of The Gambia from 1983 to 1992 while Emmanuel Fagbenle was the Chief Justice of the country from 2015 to 2017.
Before then, both had earlier served as Justices of the Court of Appeal of the Gambia.
The majority of the senior professional staff in the Ministry of Justice on the other hand are Nigerian lawyers provided through technical assistance programme.
In 2017, The Gambia Bar Association had to protest against the newly appointed Nigerian High Court judges – Justices Edward Ogar, Mathias Agboola, Simeon Abi and Matins Okoi.
Nigerian professionals, including teachers and doctors, are in the Gambia under the Technical Aids Corps scheme, launched by the Nigerian government to assist other African countries, as a practical demonstration of South-South cooperation.
The event was attended by Ms Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General, Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Aisha Al-Hassan and Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof. Tijjani Bande.
Others were Ms Hajo Sani, Senior Special Assistant to the Wife of the President, the Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Amb. Samson Itegboje, Permanent Representatives of Angola and Uganda to the UN, wives of Governors, commissioners and the civil society organisations.
Edited by: Felix Ajide
(NAN)
The African Development Bank Group supports the development of the domestic debt market in The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) has awarded a grant of $ 320,535 to the West African Monetary Agency to mainstream gender into the main regulatory frameworks for digital financial services (DFS) of ECOWAS.
The funds will support a gender gap analysis of several WAMA strategies, including those for financial inclusion; analysis of data disaggregated by sex; digital payment services and infrastructures; and digital identity. The project, to be carried out over a period of three years, potentially affect 350 million people in the 15 ECOWAS countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Guinea, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo .
The grant will be disbursed through the African Digital Financial Inclusion Facility, a blended financing vehicle, supported by the Bank.
“With a secretariat comprising the 15 central banks of ECOWAS, WAMA plays a central role in consolidating and implementing strategic financial inclusion objectives. ADFI and the WAMA project team will work closely with other ecosystem actors in the region to ensure harmonization of efforts for maximum impact, ”said Sheila Okiro, ADFI Coordinator .
The project has the potential to increase women's participation in digital financial market operations by 35% in the region, which has greater gender disparity than other parts of the continent, as evidenced by its development index of gender of 0.825 compared to the African average of 0.871.
Africa has an 11% gender inclusion gap compared to the global average of 9% according to the Findex 2017 report. To meet this challenge, it is imperative that gender is mainstreamed into all functions, but even more so at the policy and regulatory level.
The project is aligned with ADFI's strategic objectives, including its cross-cutting focus on gender inclusion, as well as the Bank's ten-year strategy, the gender strategy (2021-2025) and the mainstreaming strategic orientation. Africa High-5.
The Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (www.ADFI.org) (ADFI) is a pan-African instrument designed to accelerate digital financial inclusion across Africa, with the aim of ensuring that 332 million More Africans (60% of whom are women) have access to the formal financial system. ADFI's current partners are the French Development Agency (AFD); the French Treasury, Ministry of the Economy and Finance; the Ministry of Finance of the Luxembourg government; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and the African Development Bank, which also hosts the fund.
Gambia’s Chief of Defence, Ousman Badgie, on Friday said there “is not going to be any war or any fighting’’ as talks to convince Yahya Jammeh to cease power continues.
EN-US" >The Gambian Army Chief assured that the West African leaders would continue to make a final attempt to convince Yahya Jammeh to cease power.
EN-US" >“It’s a political misunderstanding; it is going to be solved politically, not militarily.
EN-US" >“Security is guaranteed 100 per cent,’’ the army chief adds, inviting thousands of Gambians who fled their country in fear of violence to return.
EN-US" >“West African troops that crossed from neighbouring Senegal into Gambia to help unseat Jammeh would be welcomed “with a cup of tea,’’ said Badgie.
EN-US" >
EN-US" >Edited by: Abigael Joshua/Muhammad Suleiman Tola
(NAN)
The UN Security Council on Thursday affirmed that Adama Barrow is now the legitimate President of The Gambia, declaring that “former President Yahya Jammeh is out”.
The President of the Security Council, Olof Skoog (Sweden), told the UN Correspondents after the adoption of the Resolution 2337 (2017) by consensus by the 15-Member Council.
The Correspondent of the Nigeria News Agency reports that the Resolution was sponsored by Senegal on the situation in The Gambia.
NAN reports that the Resolution by Senegal, sought the Council’s approval and support for ECOWAS to take all necessary actions to remove Jammeh and install Barrow as President.
“I just made a call to The Gambia’s President Adama Barrow to tell him that the Security Council is behind him and support him as the president.
“The Security Council affirmed support to President Barrow. The Resolution adopted just now is political.
“There is a strong request to former president Yahya Jammeh to carry out peaceful transfer of power to President Barrow.
“The Council resolved that the will of the people of the Gambia as expressed on Dec. 1 must be fully respected. That is the message of the UN Security Council.
“The Council urged all parties to exercise restraints. Jammeh is now out.
“The Security Council is now behind ECOWAS stands behind the efforts of ECOWAS to resolve the issue.
“The Council is following the events in The Gambia closely.
“The Security Council has directed the Secretary-General to report to the Council within the next 10 days.
“We know as we speak, political efforts are still ongoing to resolve the crisis peacefully,” Skoog said after the adoption of the Resolution.
He said that the Council wanted the political crisis to be resolved as bloodlessly as possible and would have preferred a peaceful resolution, if Jammeh would heed the call.
NAN reports that the Members of the Security Council, who contributed to the debate of the Resolution, included that of China, Japan, Russia, U.S., Senegal, among others.
They all affirmed their support to the Resolution and expressed concerns on the consequences of Jammeh’s action on the civilians in the country, the sub-region and the region, as a whole.
Edited by: Muhammad Suleiman Tola
(NAN)
Adama Barrow won the presidential elections at the beginning of January, narrowly beating the incumbent Yahya Jammeh, who now refuses to concede defeat.
Read more at:
Gambians in Germany are following events in their homeland closely: After 22 years in power, President Jammeh first accepted his election defeat, but then changed his mind. While many hope for a democratic solution, they also fear they could be deported.
Source Credit: DW
